Sama Myeong could tell.
That a green flag was fluttering in Geom Muggeuk’s heart right now. That he absolutely trusted the Poison King.
The special bond between them was something that could not be deciphered even by the brilliant strategists of Tongcheongak.
“Where is Hyung’s next destination?”
Sama Myeong looked at the topographic map and answered.
“The Eldest Young Master’s next destination is the Black Water Faction in Yueyang.”
A subordinate strategist pasted a slip of paper with the name Black Water Faction written on it over the location of Yueyang.
Even without Sama Myeong giving separate orders, the Tongcheongak strategists began gathering and sorting information on the Black Water Faction on their own. It truly demonstrated what the greatest information organization of the martial world was capable of.
And Sama Myeong was already familiar with the basic information regarding the Black Water Faction.
“The Black Water Faction is notorious even among the dark paths of Hunan. They have expanded their organization through all manner of evil deeds and now rank among the top ten dark path factions in Hunan. Their attempt to purchase the counterfeit Jin’gyeok this time appears to be aimed at crushing rival factions and taking control of the Hunan dark path.”
“What kind of person is their leader?”
“The leader of the Black Water Faction is a man called Huang Ba, one who is a child of the dark path to the bone. He is so crazy about money that one could say he’s mad for it. Having been born and raised on rough streets, he has never once retreated when facing an enemy. In the Hunan martial world, he is regarded as a madman. He is probably someone who wouldn’t even fear our cult.”
Then Geom Muggeuk gave an unexpected reply.
“That actually makes it easier for Hyung to deal with him. His greed will make for a good weakness to exploit. And if the other party acts out of turn, Hyung’s true nature will come out too. Everyone just doesn’t know. Hyung has the dirtiest temper in our cult! Everyone is being fooled right now!”
Geom Muggeuk’s voice rang loudly through the strategy room.
Others might frown thinking he was badmouthing his older brother behind his back, but at least Sama Myeong and the strategists here knew better than anyone.
They knew how hard Geom Muggeuk had worked to keep that foul-tempered brother of his from getting killed.
“Please send all information and data on the Black Water Faction to Hyung as quickly as possible.”
“Understood.”
Geom Muggeuk rose from his seat.
“I shall take my leave now.”
“Please do.”
Sama Myeong politely clasped his fists in salute.
“But it is late. Are you not going home, Strategist?”
“There is a place to sleep here. During emergencies, I sleep here.”
“You mean your office?”
“No. There is a quarters with a bed as well.”
It seemed there was a place to sleep within Tongcheongak. Since he had only ever met here in the strategy room and in his office, he hadn’t known such a place existed.
“May I take a brief look around?”
“Please do.”
Sama Myeong guided Geom Muggeuk to the strategists’ quarters.
There were rooms where ordinary strategists could sleep, and Sama Myeong’s own room was separately prepared. It was larger and more pleasant than expected.
“Shortly after I became Chief Strategist, the Cult Leader had it newly furnished for me.”
He thought that perhaps around that time, his father had begun to truly trust Sama Myeong.
“Do you often sleep here?”
“Originally, I only slept here during emergency situations. But these days, I often do.”
“You are of an age. You should sleep at home.”
Sama Myeong’s house had been prepared within the cult grounds, but when he went there, he was alone in that large house. He was more comfortable here, but he could not say such things.
“As I told you before, I have greatly benefited from the heart method taught by the Cult Leader.”
He had conversed with Sama Myeong many times and even shared drinks with him at a tavern.
But in truth, he did not know much about him. That was true even of his house. Though he had a house within the cult, Geom Muggeuk had never once been there.
Part of it was that Geom Muggeuk had deliberately kept his distance for Gowol’s sake, and Sama Myeong himself did not speak much of personal matters.
“Don’t you have any hidden liquor?”
Sama Myeong had said so once. That he too had been a heavy drinker in his youth.
Geom Muggeuk had spoken in jest, but Sama Myeong took out liquor from a cabinet.
“I occasionally have a drink when I cannot sleep.”
Sama Myeong poured a drink for Geom Muggeuk.
“You should have a drink too, Strategist.”
“I do not drink when an emergency is declared.”
Sama Myeong poured cold tea from a teapot and took a sip.
“Is an emergency declared like this even when I am away?”
“To be honest, a higher level of emergency is declared.”
Well, of course. An emergency is declared even when Hyung goes out, so when the successor is away from the cult...
Whenever he returned, Sama Myeong always treated him calmly, but unbeknownst to him, he had passed through such long and tense moments in places unseen.
One could tell just by looking at the documents piled high on the desk against that wall. How Sama Myeong’s peaceful smile was a smile forged.
“I am sorry.”
“Whatever for? It is only natural that I do this.”
“No, I am apologizing in advance. When Father emerges from his seclusion, he might go wandering around again.”
At Geom Muggeuk’s half-joking, half-serious words, Sama Myeong gave a faint smile. Geom Muggeuk felt a desire to do something for the Chief Strategist who suffered from having met the wrong young cult leader.
“Strategist, is there anything you wish to do? Ah, excluding unifying the martial world.”
At Geom Muggeuk’s addendum, Sama Myeong’s smile deepened.
“Not particularly.”
“Is there anywhere you wish to go?”
As if to say there was nothing, Sama Myeong quietly shook his head and drank his tea.
“Then what was your childhood dream? Surely you didn’t dream of becoming the Chief Strategist of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
Sama Myeong briefly recalled his childhood.
He seemed to have had many things he wanted to do. Surprisingly, he could not clearly remember what he had wanted to become or what he had wanted to do.
“I do not recall well, but perhaps it was to become the Chief Strategist of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?”
At Sama Myeong’s jest, this time it was Geom Muggeuk who laughed.
“If you can’t remember, it’s because you’ve used your brain too much on feeding our cult.”
This time, Sama Myeong asked about Geom Muggeuk’s dream.
“What was the Acting Cult Leader’s dream? Excluding becoming the successor.”
“I had none, excluding that.”
Surprised by Geom Muggeuk’s answer, Sama Myeong asked.
“None?”
“Yes. Why are you so surprised?”
In his life before the regression, he truly had no dreams. Due to the competition with his brother that began from a young age, he only wished to become the successor. Afterward, he lived only for the sake of regressing.
If one were to speak of dreams after regressing?
“I thought that since you are the Acting Cult Leader, you would somehow have many dreams.”
“You probably felt that way because I talk so much.”
Geom Muggeuk emptied his cup and rose from his seat.
“I shall stop disturbing you and take my leave for real now.”
“I will see you tomorrow.”
Sama Myeong followed him out to see him off.
Looking back from the entrance, he saw that Sama Myeong was not returning to his quarters with the bed, but walking back to the strategy room.
The emergency here would continue until the deployed flags returned to the cult grounds.
* * *
Huang Ba, the leader of the Black Water Faction, was furious.
He was always furious, but today he was particularly more so.
“So? You still haven’t found the goods?”
“Yes.”
The subordinate who answered curtly was Ming Gui, Huang Ba’s right-hand man.
Had the one reporting been anyone other than Ming Gui, a palm strike might have already flown and cracked his skull.
But while that might apply to others, it could not be done to Ming Gui.
The one who had made the Black Water Faction what it was today was none other than Ming Gui. Ming Gui possessed martial arts far superior to the leader Huang Ba, yet the reason he devoted his loyalty to Huang Ba was the debt of gratitude for saving his son.
Five years ago, a group of vagabonds had ravaged and murdered Ming Gui’s wife and tried to kill his young son as well. Huang Ba, who happened to be passing by, killed the vagabonds and saved the son.
From that day forth, Ming Gui became Huang Ba’s right-hand man and devoted his loyalty to him.
“Could the sellers have staged this themselves?”
They had secretly agreed to pay a large sum to purchase one of the Ten Great Golden Dragon Hidden Weapons. However, on the day they received the goods, someone stole them.
Whoever it was, they had undoubtedly learned of the transaction beforehand and seized the opportunity.
“We hadn’t paid them yet; why would they do that?”
The sellers had said they would receive payment for the goods after delivery. If they had intended to steal the goods from the start, they would have taken the money in advance.
“So it was the Great Light Faction bastards after all?”
The Great Light Faction was another dark path faction competing for interests with the Black Water Faction in the Hunan region.
Just then, Ming Gui quietly raised his hand to draw Huang Ba’s attention, then spoke softly toward the door.
“Who is it?”
Then the door opened, and a man revealed himself.
“I’ve come to collect the money.”
The man wore his bamboo hat pulled low, hiding his face, but a rough and domineering air seeped through his low voice.
Ming Gui sent a telepathic message to Huang Ba.
—Be careful. He is no ordinary man.
One could tell simply by the fact that he had infiltrated this far while evading the eyes of the subordinates.
Huang Ba nodded slightly and asked the bamboo-hatted man.
“What money do you speak of?”
“If you received the goods, you must pay.”
The man walked over and sat facing Huang Ba.
“We never received the goods.”
“The Jangsa Escort Agency clearly stated that they delivered the goods to you.”
Huang Ba’s eyes turned savage. The fact that he had to pay without having received the goods made his anger surge.
Of course, had he been someone who obediently handed over money in such a situation, he would not have survived in this rough dark path underbelly until now.
“What if I cannot pay?”
Then the man spoke in a low voice.
“You failed to receive the goods, so you must not have been able to test the hidden weapon.”
He raised his hand and pointed it at Huang Ba. Before anyone knew it, he held the Jin’gyeok in his hand.
“Would you like to become the test subject yourself?”
Schwing.
Ming Gui’s sword was half-drawn. He too was ready to cut down the opponent in an instant.
“No matter how fast that sword is, it cannot be faster than this.”
Even with the Jin’gyeok aimed at him, Huang Ba did not cower.
“If this bastard kills me, cut off his arms and legs, peel all the skin from his torso, and put him in a salt barrel.”
Huang Ba’s bravado stemmed from the belief that the man could not fire without receiving payment.
Indeed, the man did not unleash the Jin’gyeok.
“Bring the one who first struck the deal with us.”
“Why him?”
“If there is no money, life must pay the price. I shall at least collect the life of the one who first called us.”
He spoke as if that were their law.
Huang Ba inwardly cheered. He had been thinking of bargaining down the price; if he could substitute a subordinate’s life instead, he would gladly accept.
It was precisely when Huang Ba was about to order a subordinate to be brought.
“You!”
Until then, Ming Gui, who had been silently watching the man, opened his mouth.
“You are not from that place, are you?”
Huang Ba looked at Ming Gui with a surprised face.
“This man is not someone who would serve under another and run around collecting money.”
The instinctive sense of crisis Ming Gui felt from his opponent was something he had never experienced in his life.
“Remove your bamboo hat!”
Then the man slowly removed his bamboo hat.
The one who revealed himself beneath the bamboo hat was none other than Geom Muyang.
He had disguised himself as them, taking advantage of the fact that the counterfeit weapon sellers had agreed to receive payment after delivery.
What Geom Muyang needed to find out from the Black Water Faction was how they had learned of the hidden weapon sellers and in what manner the transaction had been conducted. There was definitely someone within the Black Water Faction who handled the practical matters.
Thus, this plan had been devised based on the information that Huang Ba was a maniac for money. He would surely hand over a subordinate instead of money. Geom Muyang had thought this would be an easier and more certain method than beating up a madman to find out.
Ming Gui had seen through the fact that Geom Muyang was not someone who would run around collecting money. That he had seen through the disguise despite the bamboo hat and the fierce, rough demeanor showed that Ming Gui’s insight into people was extraordinary.
Geom Muyang turned the words he had heard back on Ming Gui.
“You too are not someone who should be serving under such a man.”
The moment his eyes met Geom Muyang’s gaze, Ming Gui knew.
‘This is not someone I can face.’
On the other hand, Huang Ba shouted in a fury, feeling slighted.
“You bastard, who are you?”
Geom Muyang placed the Jin’gyeok he held onto the table and asked.
“Who were you planning to kill with our goods?”
For a moment, Huang Ba was blank-faced, then he shot to his feet.
“The Demonic Cult!”
This reaction was a confession that he had known the item he tried to purchase was a hidden weapon of the Demonic Cult.
A heavy silence permeated the air.
A single icy remark slipped from Geom Muyang’s lips.
“Sit. Stop looking down on me.”
Now, Geom Muyang revealed an aura of an entirely different caliber than before. The icy chill dwelling in his pupils left Hwang Pae breathless.
*‘If he wanted to kill me, he wouldn’t have disguised himself in the first place.’*
With that in mind, he judged that acting boldly would be to his advantage.
“As if anyone would be afraid of the Demonic Cult—”
Smack!
Hwang Pae’s face whipped to the side. It was Geom Muyang’s fist, which had flown in from nowhere, smashing into his face before he could tell when or how.
Shring!
The very moment Myeonggwi drew his sword.
“Don’t.”
At that single word from Geom Muyang, Myeonggwi’s body froze. Powerful demonic qi bore down on him, rendering him immobile.
Hwang Pae spat out broken teeth and shouted.
“Kill this bastard!”
Demonic Cult or not, he was the type who simply had to act on his temper to feel satisfied.
In the next moment, Hwang Pae’s body shot into the air. Geom Muyang had grabbed him and flung him toward the door.
Crack.
Crashed through the door and tumbling across the courtyard, Hwang Pae sprang up and shouted. This time, he shouted at the subordinates filling the courtyard.
“Kill that bastard!”
But no one moved.
“What are you waiting for, you bastards!”
In that instant, Hwang Pae flinched in surprise. He had thought they were his subordinates, but unfamiliar martial artists were staring at him.
They were none other than Branch Hall Leader Homyeong and the elites of the Changsha Branch Hall.
Behind them, his own subordinates were kneeling. The few who had attacked without recognizing their opponents had been so thoroughly thrashed that their faces were mangled beyond recognition.
Though the Heuksu Faction was a prominent faction of the dark path in Honam, how could they possibly stand against a branch hall leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and his elite subordinates?
Seeing Hwang Pae, one subordinate instinctively tried to rise and rush out.
Thrust!
A branch hall martial artist standing behind him nonchalantly plunged a sword into his neck.
Watching him crumple and spew blood, the martial artists of the Heuksu Faction all bowed their heads in unison. They were men who had lived without knowing the meaning of fear. Men who, out on the streets, no one dared to even meet eyes with—today, they had truly met their match.
Even in this situation, Hwang Pae gritted his teeth.
“So what if you’re from the Demonic Cult? Go ahead, kill me too! Try killing Hwang Pae on this Honam soil! Do you think the Sado Alliance will just stand by if you touch us!”
If they had wanted to kill him, they would have done so already. With this sole belief, he held out to the end. Because his subordinates were watching, he pushed even harder.
Geom Muyang, who had been watching him thrash about in fury with an indifferent gaze, turned his head to look at Myeonggwi.
“You lost your family to wanderers, didn’t you?”
When he suddenly mentioned that matter, Myeonggwi was startled. In other words, it meant that he had come after investigating him.
“From what we found out…”
At that moment, Hwang Pae cut off Geom Muyang’s words and shouted.
“What do you want?”